###Live Caption:People line up behind a new memorial commemorating the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War before the memorial's dedication ceremony in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, March 30, 2008. Photo by Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle###Caption History:People line up behind a new memorial commemorating the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War before the memorial's dedication ceremony in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, March 30, 2008. Photo by Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle###Notes:###Special Instructions:

Photo: Laura Morton

###Live Caption:People line up behind a new memorial commemorating...

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###Live Caption:David Smith, a veteran of the Spanish Civl War, attends dedication ceremony for a new memorial commemorating the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, March 30, 2008. Smith spoke during the ceremony. Photo by Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle###Caption History:David Smith, a veteran of the Spanish Civl War, attends dedication ceremony for a new memorial commemorating the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, March 30, 2008. Smith spoke during the ceremony. Photo by Laura Morton / Special to The Chronicle###Notes:David Smith###Special Instructions:

David Smith was a young college student with no military training when he shipped off to Spain to fight in the brutal Spanish Civil War.

On Sunday, a throng of Bay Area history buffs gave him a standing ovation and shouted "Viva Dave!" as the now-92-year-old Berkeley resident teared up and pumped his fist in the air at the unveiling of San Francisco's newest public monument: a memorial to soldiers who fought in the lost war more than six decades ago.

About 2,800 Americans battled against Gen. Francisco Franco's forces in an international force known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Today, there are just 39 survivors, and 11 of them were on hand for the unveiling of the monument, which one organizer called "an antidote to amnesia."

The war, fought between 1936 and 1939, was widely seen as a prelude to World War II. The Spanish rebels fought under Franco's leadership with the support of Hitler's Germany and Benito Mussolini's Italian Fascist regime. The United States at the time was strongly isolationist, and Spain seemed far away, and its battles between the Fascists on the right and the Spanish republic on the left were difficult to understand.

The republican forces were defeated in the war and many of the Lincoln Brigade volunteers were regarded with suspicion by conservatives, particularly during the McCarthy era following World War II.

He and his father enlisted together and fought in Spain, where Thornton's duties included driving a truck and an ambulance to transport supplies and troops.

"I knew I was getting into a fight against the Fascists and that was the main thing," the Hayward resident said. "I was hoping I could help the Spanish government become a socialist government."

Ninety-two year old Abe Osheroff of Seattle recalled a battle in which 80 out of 250 crew members died when the ship they were on was torpedoed off the coast of Spain. On Sunday, he thanked San Francisco for erecting the country's first-ever Lincoln Brigade monument and "for making us immortal."

The monument, 40 feet long and 8 feet high, is located near the Vaillancourt Fountain on the Embarcadero, not far from San Francisco's Ferry Building.

"We picked San Francisco because the city is tolerant and progressive," said Carroll. "Standing up for what is right is a San Francisco thing to do."

The structure is made of 45 onyx panels held together by a steel structure. The translucent stone squares show scenes from the war and faces of soldiers, as well as words about the period from writers like Ernest Hemingway.

It was designed by Ann Chamberlain and Walter Hood and cost $400,000, donated by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Spanish Ambassador Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza attended the unveiling and thanked the veterans for risking their lives for his country.